Gov. Deval L. Patrick floats tougher limits on machine guns

BOSTON - Gov. Deval L. Patrick is proposing to ban anyone in Massachusetts from handling or shooting machine guns except for police and people with a license for a machine gun.

The proposal, contained in more comprehensive gun control legislation filed on Wednesday, stems from the October death of an 8-year-old Connecticut boy who accidentally shot himself in the head with an Micro UZI at the Westfield Sportsman's Club.

"It's fair to say that tragedy caught everyone's attention," said Terrel W. Harris, spokesman for the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. "The governor wants to ensure that nothing like that ever happens again."

Licenses for machine guns should only be available to gun collectors, a certified firearms instructor, people 21 and older with a license to carry a firearm and police for training purposes, according to Catherine P. Bailey, assistant general counsel in the Patrick administration.

Bailey said the governor wants to ban machine guns from a current law that allows unlicensed people to temporarily handle and fire an automatic weapon as long as they are in the presence of a person with an appropriate gun license.

"It's such a sensitive area," she said. "We want to be clear as possible."

The governor's bill seeks to regulate gun shows that are open to the public. Under the bill, people would be prohibited from using machine guns at gun shows unless they have a license to use a machine gun, Bailey said.

James L. Wallace, executive director of the Gun Owners Action League in Northboro, said Patrick's bill goes too far. People 18 and older should be free to temporarily use machine guns in demonstration shoots and under controlled circumstances with a license holder, Wallace said.

"It's another failed policy decision from a failed administration," Wallace said of Patrick's legislation.

A Hampden Superior Court grand jury has indicted the sportsman's club and three people, including former Pelham police chief Edward B. Fleury, for involuntary manslaughter in the death of Christopher K. Bizilj.

The boy died on Oct. 26 when he lost control of a submachine gun after it recoiled when he was firing at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Exposition at the Westfield Sportsman's Club. The boy's father was 10 feet behind him and reaching for his camera when the youth shot the gun.

The Westfield club and Fleury, owner of a company that co-sponsored the gun show, were also indicted on four counts of furnishing a machine gun to a person under 18.

Carl Giuffre, of Hartford, Conn., and Domenico Spano, of New Milford, Conn., are also charged with involuntary manslaughter. They are charged with providing the automatic weapons to the Westfield gun show.

All have pleaded innocent to the charges.

Patrick's bill needs approval of the state Legislature to become law.

Another provision in the bill would allow district attorneys to deny bail to people charged with illegally possessing a firearm. The provision is aimed at trumping a ruling by the state Supreme Judicial Court that said existing law doesn't include illegal gun possession as a reason to find someone dangerous enough to deny bail.

The governor also wants to block gun owners from buying more than one firearm within 30 days. Patrick wants to limit numerous gun purchases by people who then turn around and sell the guns to felons or other unlicensed people.

Patrick also wants to establish a new criminal charge for anyone who possesses a firearm while committing a misdemeanor that involves the use of force.